For example:
Last Friday, Duran Duran were autographing their new CD at a Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood. A friend of mine flew down from San Francisco to be there, armed with the new CD, the new CD/DVD pack, the new album (yes, the vinyl), her book of photography by Nick Rhodes, and her Duran Duran board game (I also own the Duran Duran board game). And she commented on the fanatics in attendance.
There were two different wristbands distributed. One was "guaranteed" and the other was a standby one. 500 of the "guaranteed" ones were distributed with 250 of them going out when they did a midnight onsale 3 days prior. People started camping out at 6am the morning of the onsale just to buy the cd.
After I got the wristband I went outside and joined the lineup. First
person in line arrived on Thursday at 4:45pm. The signing wasn't until
Friday at 7pm.
Security was quickly hastening everybody along the table to get out rather quickly. Very little time was allowed to make small talk or smile, nod or in the case of one woman... cry. No, that was not me. I heard one woman had to pulled aside and forced to sit down because she was so nervous that she was trembling and worried the event staff. That wasn't me either.
So next up: I ditched work today to go to a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show. She wins Emmys and stuff, I guess... bigger than Oprah, perhaps? Regardless, it was my first talk show taping and it was exhausting. And I was there because the musical guest was - you got it - Duran Duran. Susan Sarandon and Dermot Mulroney were also there, but whatever. Academy award winner? Just give me John Taylor!
Because I'm a lucky girl, a friend of a friend worked on the show (she was also the drummer for Luscious Jackson) and got us on the VIP list. This meant we got to sit inside while it was raining outside. Non special people waited under a tarp. I felt kinda bad, till Duran Duran started soundchecking behind the wall that was keeping us from seeing the soundstage. "Sunrise" and "Hungry Like the Wolf." Occasional comments like Simon saying, "Oh, is that me? Sounds awful." Priceless.
Eventually we were seated. Most live show tapings have a comedian come on before hand to get you warmed up, and the Ellen show also had dancing. You were expected to get up out of your seat and dance like a maniac for however long it took to get the show started. It was all booty jam 80's stuff, which I'm not super into. The writer/comedian/VH1 commentator, Greg Fitzsimmons, threatened to move anyone not dancing to the back of the seating area, so my friends and I stood up and re-enacted the song that was spinning, "Copacabana." People were amused by this. We did not get moved.
(John Taylor and my friend who took me to the taping... except about 20 years ago. Dig the hair!)
The show is taped in real time, and you are cued to yell and scream and clap constantly. Between takes, you are forced to dance again. I was wiped out about 15 minutes into it, but held on to see my boys.
When they performed, they were maybe 20 feet away. It was awesome. They looked great. Well, actually, I think John's hair is thinning and he's sporting a "oops-got-my-finger-in-an-electrical-socket" look. Simon, however, looked trim and sexy - and I'm not even a Simon girl! Roger looked like my neighbor, but it was nice to see him after all those years away.
(Notice John has gone back to hats... but not GOOD hats... sigh...)
After their first song, the sixty something lady next to us turned to my friend and said, "I don't understand why they didn't put us in the front. My daughter has loved this band since 1981! We flew all the way from South Carolina for this!" Wow - I just lied to my boss about a dental appointment. Then after the second song, a girl in front of us started bawling. Like shaking and crying. One of her friends turned to us and said, "We flew her here from Florida. She loves Duran Duran and has never seen them, and she's dying of cancer." Jesus! I felt like a poseur amongst these women. I mean, just because I listen and own most of the music and had lots of posters up and see them live all the time, regardless of quality... for me - it's always been fun. For them, it's a part of waking up and breathing and stuff. Damn.
And afterwards, Ellen gave everybody a copy of her new book and the new Duran Duran CD. Which was nice, because I was waiting for the promo copies to start flooding the used bin before I got one. See? I love them, but I'm like that.
Oprah gave everyone a car at her show... you listening, Ellen? I guess the show airs Thursday the 21st; I'll be the girl dancing with two cute gay boys and not wearing hot pink with acid wash.
